One area of emphasis available
to students in our clinical program is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
Several members of our faculty (Drs. Ahrens, Carter, Gray, Gunthert,
Haaga, and Juliano) are actively involved in the major professional
organization in this subspecialty, the Association for Behavioral and
Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and conduct research on cognitive and behavioral
factors in the causes and treatment of mood, anxiety, eating, and substance
use disorders.
The CBT emphasis in the clinical program is not a formal "track"
and does not entail requirements. As general guidelines, a student wishing
to emphasize training in CBT while enrolled at AU would do well to pursue
some or all of the following opportunities:
1. Conduct CBT-relevant research
in collaboration with departmental faculty and/or off-campus collaborators.
2. Take the two semester PSYC-533 Cognitive Behavior Therapy as the
third practicum, following two semester practica in experiential and
object relations practica.
3. Work in the department's James J. Gray Psychotherapy Training Clinic
above and beyond the one-year required Behavior Therapy Practicum course.
As soon as the Summer after the first year in the program, students
can gain CBT experience under the supervision of Drs. Carter, Gray,
and Haaga.
4. Fulfill "tool" requirements by gaining expertise in skills
relevant to CBT research and practice. Past examples include training
in structured diagnostic interviewing, in applying panic control treatment
in a group format, and in leading smoking cessation groups using behavioral
techniques.
5. Base the presentation in one's specialty comprehensive exam on CBT
expertise.
6. Select externships and internships on the basis of their providing
CBT training and an empirical, scientific orientation to clinical work.
Recent AU students have, for example, completed internship training
at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, the Palo Alto VA Medical Center,
Brown University, the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Temple University,
and Massachusetts General Hospital.
7. Familiarize yourself with CBT-relevant professional organizations,
which are an excellent source of career development information. Many
of our students have presented their research at the annual convention
of ABCT, for instance.
OUTCOMES
Some students who have emphasized
CBT training while at AU have gone on to secure faculty positions in
Psychology departments at
William Paterson University (Wilson McDermut)
Williams College (Ari Solomon)
University of Cincinnati (Giao Tran)
and psychiatry departments at
Harvard University (Ellen Burgess)
Tulane University (Alison Edwards Laster)
Often these positions are
obtained subsequent to completion of postdoctoral clinical research
fellowships such as our students have obtained at
Stanford University (Ari
Solomon)
Brown University (Wilson McDermut, Ellen Burgess)
Providence VA (Jennifer McDermut)
Boston VA National Center for PTSD (Dana Rabois)
Johns Hopkins University (Giao Tran).
Students emphasizing CBT and electing to pursue applied positions have
also fared well in the job market, securing staff positions at (among
others):
Georgetown University (Elisha Tarlow Friedman)
St. Joseph's Hospital Center for Eating Disorders (Sarah Hubbard)
Catholic University of America Counseling Center (John Chamberlain)
Whether or not students aspire
to careers in clinical research, our faculty strongly encourage students
to publish the results of their research and thereby contribute to the
scientific basis of the field. Recent publications first-authored by
AU students include:
Friedman, E. T., Schwartz,
R. M., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Are the very happy too happy? Journal
of Happiness Studies, 3, 355-372.
Gore, K. L., Carter, M. M.,
& Parker, S. (2002). Predicting anxious response to a social challenge:
The predictive utility of the social interaction anxiety scale and the
social phobia scale in a college population. Behaviour Research and
Therapy, 40, 689-700.
Hartman-Hall, H. M., &
Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). College students' willingness to seek help for
their learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 25, 263-274.
Leit, R. A., Gray, J. J.,
& Pope, H. G. (2002). The media's representation of the Ideal Male
Body: a Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia (2002). International Journal of
Eating Disorders, 31, 334-338.
Rabois, D., & Haaga,
D. A. F. (2002). Facilitating police-minority youth attitude change:
The effects of cooperation within a competitive context and exposure
to typical exemplars. Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 189-195.
Terrill, D. R., Friedman,
D. G., Gottschalk, L. A., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Construct validity
of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 79,
550-563.
Tran, G. Q., & Haaga,
D. A. F. (2002). Coping responses and alcohol outcome expectancies in
alcohol abusing and nonabusing social phobics. Cognitive Therapy and
Research, 26, 1-17 [abstracted in Alcohol Research, 7, 128-129].
Gore, K. L., & Carter,
M. M. (2003). Incorporating the family in the cognitive behavioral treatment
of an African-American female suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia.
Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 14, 73-92.
Rabois, D., & Haaga,
D. A. F. (2003). The influence of cognitive coping and mood on smokers'
self-efficacy and temptation. Addictive Behaviors, 28, 561-573.
Solomon, A., & Haaga,
D. A. F. (2003). Reconsideration of self-complexity as a buffer against
depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 579-591.
Chamberlain, J. M., Haaga,
D. A. F., Thorndike, F. P., & Ahrens, A. H. (2004). Metatraits and
assessment of attributional style. Journal of Psychology, 138, 521-531.
Freedman, R. E. K., Carter,
M.M., Sbrocco, T., & Gray, J. J. (2004). Ethnic preferences for
female weight and waist-to-hip ratio: A comparison of African-American
and White-American college and community samples. Eating Behaviors,
5, 191-198.
Friedman, S. R., & Weissbrod,
C. S. (2004). Gender differences in the continuation of family rituals.
Sex Roles, 50, 277-284.
Pearlman, M. Y., Wernicke,
R., Thorndike, F. & Haaga, D. A. F. (2004). Stages of change in
smoking cessation: A comparison of expectancies among precontemplators
and contemplators. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior
Therapy, 22, 131-147.
Sypeck, M.F., Gray, J.J.,
& Ahrens, A. H. (2004). No longer just a pretty face: Fashion magazines'
depictions of ideal female beauty from 1959-1999. International Journal
of Eating Disorders, 36, 342-347.
Cintron, J. A., Carter, M.
M., Suchday, S., Sbrocco, T., & Gray, J. (2005). Factor structure
and construct validity of the anxiety sensitivity index among island
Puerto Ricans. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 19, 51-68.
Hill, L. D., Gray, J. J.,
Carter, M. M., & Schulkin, J. (2005). Obstetrician-gynecologists
decision making about the diagnosis of major depressive disorder and
premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics
and Gynecology, 26, 41-51.
